Finca Ventures has renewed its investment commitment in Africa after awarding grants to several startups that competed in their first competition held on March 28, 2024.
- The FINCA Ventures Prize Competition, announced in January this year, awarded prizes to the best innovators in the fields of healthcare and agriculture, recognizing the social impact of these sectors in the empowerment of the continent.
- Angela Odero, founder of Rio Fish, and Ashley Speyer of Kazi Yetu in Tanzania won two categories for Agriculture; winning US$70,000 each.
- In two health care categories, Naom Monari of Bena Care and Sona Shah of Neopenda won $70,000 in grants to count their performance.
“We have made a choice to invest in social entrepreneurs with bold visions, disruptive business models and innovative products or technologies that seek to have a positive impact on the poor and the poor. is low,” FINCA Ventures CEO Andrée Simon said.
When FINCA Ventures was founded 40 years ago, its founders believed that micro-loans and grants could transform Africa and reduce poverty by bridging the gap between innovation and financial resources. More than 300 people applied for the competition but only 12 were shortlisted for the final round by a panel of judges. Interestingly, 10 of the last 12 startups were founded or co-founded by women, and all of the winners were led by women; this means the growth of women entrepreneurs and their support organizations.
“We know that about 2-3% of the world’s investment funds go to women. It cannot be that women have only 2-3% of good ideas. We need to find ways to get money from women so they can invest in their good ideas. But we also need to find ways to buy women time so they can realize those good ideas,” said Greta Bull, Director of Women’s Economic Empowerment at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
New Women’s Activities
Angela Odero founded Rio Fish to support small fish farmers to access refrigeration and marketing services. Kenya is facing a shortage of fish production, which meets only 30% of its national demand. He realized that these fish farmers, especially women, were used in desperation to get these services and earn money. The increase in funds will help him to facilitate his services and eliminate ongoing challenges.
Ashley Speyer’s ‘Kazi Yetu’ buys herbs, tea and spices from farmers in Tanzania which are then processed and packed in a women-run factory in Dar es Salaam.
Other startups in the agriculture sector are Togo-based ‘Baobaby’ and Kenya’s ‘Sprout’, which uses AI to help coffee farmers deal with the challenges of climate change. First runners were awarded US$20,000, and second runners were awarded US$10,000.
In the healthcare sector, Kenya’s ‘Bena Care’ uses technology to connect healthcare workers with their patients. Its founder Naom Monari thanked FINCA Ventures for the help, believing that the money will help a lot to create the important projects he planned to complete.
“We are going to buy hospital equipment such as beds and ventilators that will reduce healthcare costs for more than 300 families every year… Organizations like FINCA are creating an organization and that is what we need because the way of doing it alone will not work,” said Monari.
Neopenda, on the other hand, uses technology that helps patients wearing monitoring devices get medical attention when problems start. A product called ‘neoGuard’ alerts healthcare providers to respond to these cases. The money, Sona Shah said, will help speed up the program.
The health care category was highly competitive, seeing ‘CheckUps’ by Renee Ngamau and Moka Lantum take second place. This innovation allows users to get micro-insurance that can help them get the necessary medicines. The US$20,000 grant they received will go a long way in expanding their operations and furthering their mission of achieving universal healthcare.
Technovera, a healthcare company operating in South Africa, has also received awards for its thoughtful innovation that includes saving essential medicines that save chronic patients from unnecessary delays in public health facilities.
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